NOW Ensemble

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"Machine-like minimalist rhythms rub up against pop-song melodies and a lot of fluttering flute. The playing has a charming lightness, and Burke's balletic 'All Together Now' and Greenstein's pensive, lovely 'Sing Along' are memorable compositions." - Bradley Bambarger, "Four discs inspired by past influences", Newark Star-Ledger, April 7, 2008

"Setting up shop closer to the classical camp is the outstanding seven-member NOW Ensemble's debut, NOW. Composers Nico Muhly, Patrick Burke, Mark Dancigers and Judd Greenstein...provide repertoire plenty deep enough to be dredged on multiple passes without crawling up inside its head so far it misplaces its soul." - Molly Sheridan, "New CDs From Musicians Who Play the Field", The Washington Post, March 9, 2008

"NOW Ensemble is a New York collective of classical composers and performers whose collaborative efforts aid each individual member while contributing to the whole...[NOW] is frequently challenging but offers a window into one of the many possible futures of contemporary chamber music." - Richard Allen, The Silent Ballet, March 8, 2008

"The second act was the NOW Ensemble, one of those we-can-play-anything chamber collectives of Yale and Juilliard hotshots whose style molds itself to its repertoire: quick and light, in the case of [Judd] Greenstein's Folk Music, with lots of tricky repetitions and smoothly handled turns." - Justin Davidson, "The Next New Wave", New York, February 4, 2008

"(Five Star Review) On its first recording, [NOW Ensemble] makes a point of playing happy music with a pop sensibility that's nonetheless pretty rigorous....The melancholy flute line, above bobbing piano chords, of Judd Greenstein's Folk Music is one of the disc's highlights...like a lot of [Nico] Muhly's music, the energetic throb [of How About Now] has a poppish sensibility but takes a crack team of players to pull of easily. And can this group make it sound easy. Flutist Alexandra Sopp and clarinetist Sara Phillips shine as soloists and as ensemble players, and pianist Michael Mizrahi does as well. Greenstein's works open and close the disc, starting and ending it on a clean and pure current." - Marc Geelhoed, Time Out Chicago, album review, January 17, 2008

"(Five Star Review) [Judd] Greenstein's wistful Folk Music and passionate Sing Along serve as bookends on the eponymous debut recording by NOW Ensemble, a polished, versatile chamber group...Members Patrick Burke and Mark Dancigers contribute two works apiece; rising star Nico Muhly provides How About Now. Despite their diversity, what unites these pieces is the way they combine the formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality." - Steve Smith, Time Out New York, album review, January 3, 2008

"NOW Ensemble offered highly attractive, unabashedly rock-influenced works by Mark Dancigers, Missy Mazzoli and Judd Greenstein." - Steve Smith, The New York Times, "Breaking the Barriers of Music in a New York Marathon", June 5, 2007

"[Steve] Reich changed music, and he also changed how music relates to society. In the face of early incomprehension he took a do-it-yourself approach to getting his work before the public....With his namesake ensemble, Reich performed in galleries, clubs, and wherever else he felt welcome. The effects of this paradigm shift can be seen on any day of the week in New York, as composer-led ensembles proliferate. Bang on a Can is the longtime leader, and the NOW Ensemble is a deft young group gaining attention....Post-Reich, composers are evolving into a more mobile, adaptable species." - Alex Ross, The New Yorker, "Celebrating Steve Reich", November 13, 2006

"As to the performances, to say that they were completely masterly (and, in some cases masterful) technically and wonderfully powerful and expressive would be to slander them by using faint praise. It was the kind of playing which was so concentrated and focused that it could melt through steel." -Rodney Lister, Tempo

"Folk Music...is one of the freshest pieces I've heard so far this year." - Alex Ross, The New Yorker, June 29, 2005, on Judd Greenstein's work for NOW Ensemble

"NOW Ensemble...works experimental, chamber-music miracles with its wide array of instruments and fertile relationship with emerging composers." - Rebecca Epstein, LA City Beat

"This is a new voice lifting in the context of a smaller world, suggesting the shape of the sounds that will define art music in the early part of this new century." - Ed Montgomery, Context Studios